The subject matter herein relates generally to alarm units and medical systems having the same that are configured to generate an alarm when designated events occur.
Patient monitoring systems are configured to receive physiological signals from a patient, analyze the physiological signals, and communicate information to a healthcare provider so that the healthcare provider may assess the health status of a patient. The physiological signals may include signals that are indicative of, for example, a heart rate, blood pressure, or peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2). Monitoring systems may include a plurality of acquisition devices that detect the physiological signals and an operator display that presents the information to the healthcare provider. The monitoring systems also include one or more alarms that are configured to alert the healthcare providers to certain events.
Known monitoring systems may determine when a health-related event has occurred and provide an alarm (e.g., audible alarm, flashing light or other visual alarm, tactile movement, etc.) that notifies the healthcare provider of the health-related event. The monitoring system may be located within the same room as the patient or may include components located at a remote site or communicate with the remote site, such as a nurse's station on the same floor as the patient's room or in the same building).
Regardless of the location of the monitoring system, the monitoring system typically includes components that are specially designed for the particular application of the monitoring system. For example, a monitoring system may include a host computing system having specific hardware and pre-installed software that is designed for monitoring cardiovascular parameters, such as blood pressure, heart rate, SpO2, and electrocardiogram (ECG) data. The monitoring system may include a designated user display that shows only a few different screens for displaying the cardiovascular parameters. The monitoring system may also have a dedicated speaker that generates only a few different sounds. While such monitoring systems are effective for carrying out their objectives, the monitoring systems can be expensive and the components are typically not re-configurable or re-usable by the end user for other applications.